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Lizbeth Walla
Professor Morris
English 1A
1 December 2015
Ensuring the Excellence of a Diverse Student Body
Over time, America has become a so-called melting pot, where people from all over the
world come and integrate themselves into American society. Needless to say, the student
population has diversified along with the country, and there is a growing need to accommodate
that increasing diversification. Each student brings in their own background and history, and they
dont all learn the same way. In this modern age, educational institutions are becoming filled
with a more diverse student populace so the education system needs to change to meet their
current demands. Teachers throughout the country utilize their own methods of teaching, some
more effective than others when directed towards a diverse group of students. Two main
arguments are individualized learning, where teachers form close personal bonds with students in
order to better understand their specific strengths and weaknesses, and outside learning, where
students are taken out of classrooms and into the real world in order to gain practical and cultural
knowledge from their surroundings. Both of these assertions hold true, so rather than choosing
between the two, the best method is to combine them. In order for the highest success rate
possible for a diverse student body, teachers need to incorporate personalized attention along
with exposure to the real world outside of classrooms to bring in the element of diversity.

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The first and most important part of attaining student success is for the teachers to form
close bonds with the students. Mike Rose writes on how its so important to focus on each
individual student and to form strong student/teacher relationships in order for the students to
reach their own full academic potential. He recounts memories of witnessing a teacher who
treated his entire class like a cohort of mechanical clerks (Rose 92), and how the students were
looking off into space (Rose 92) or doodling in the margins [of their worksheets] (Rose 92)
while only one student read aloud. Rose noticed that forcing a class to be one single entity
without any recognition for every individual clearly wasnt proving to be effective; no one was
improving because there was a lack of engagement in the class and the teacher wasnt providing
any emotional support or feedback. Rose also mentioned another teacher who went in the
opposite route. She was very attentive to all of her students personal strengths and they in turn
were active and participated in class. A main point in Roses book was that student/teacher
interaction greatly helps in developing students abilities, and Rose made sure that he practiced
what he preached. His students were apprehensive at first but he began talking about himself and
prompted them to do the same. As they became more familiar with each other, the students
started to relax and were more willing to participate in discussions and classwork. When students
couldnt or didnt want to complete assignments, Rose would help them right then and there
(Rose 95). This personal one-on-one approach worked wonders on the students who refused to
write (Rose 95), showing the educational benefits of teachers taking the time to stop and give
individualized attention to students.
There has been research conducted on how positive teacher interactions affect students,
especially those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Children who come from
impoverished families tend to have parents who arent very well-educated, and their households

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have a higher level of family stress, resulting in a reduced amount of support for cognitive and
social-emotional development (Lee and Bierman 384). That lack of support is a tremendous
setback for childrens academic progress, and as many as 40% demonstrate delays in learning
behaviors and emergent literacy skills, and over 20% exhibit high rates of social difficulties and
disruptive behavior problems (Lee and Bierman 383-384). The underdevelopment of their
social and learning skills would eventually cause them more trouble in life, from reduced high
school graduation rates to lower chances at long-term employment. These negative effects on
impoverished children can be countered by their teachers fostering warm, emotionallysupportive relationships and essentially making up for what their parents lack. The teachers
would be providing feelings of safety and security and creating a nurturing environment for the
continuous, healthy development of childrens learning and behavioral skills. With a support
system, children would view themselves as being competent and motivated to adhere to the
values of the classroom, thus increasing their learning efforts and performance (Lee and
Bierman 387). When teachers positively connect emotionally with their students, the students
display a higher level of academic achievement and engagement.
In the book Spare Parts, Joshua Davis writes about the true story of a group of high
schoolers who won an underwater robotics competition, driven by the personal commitment of
their teacher, Fredi Lajvardi. The boys came from a poverty-stricken neighborhood in the middle
of the desert and still ended up defeating the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology
team, and part of their success was due to their teacher and the close relationship he had with
them. Lajvardis method of teaching was unorthodox compared to the rest of the school. He
broke away from the sterile and bureaucratic (Davis 30) environment of the school and
encouraged his students to pursue projects in areas they each found interesting; Lajvardi was

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always focused on getting kids excited to learn (Davis 30) and that meant that he would
support each of his students individual projects, resulting in a flourishing, dynamic class as
opposed to a rigid, dull course that only followed the set curriculum. The robotics team was
constantly backed by Lajvardis unwavering emotional support, and for them, the team was like
a new family (Davis 113). There was a sense of team spirit fostered by Lajvardis confidence in
them even though they were going against the odds. It paid off in the end, seeing as Lajvardis
dedication and attentiveness to the boys lead to the teams victory. Spare Parts is perfect
supporting evidence for Lee and Biermans research; the boys were all living in poverty and a
few came from unsupportive home environments. Their parents lead them to believe they
wouldnt get anywhere in life with the path that they were on until Lajvardi stepped in as the
supportive figure they needed, helping them achieve a newfound confidence and purpose for
themselves.
Warm teacher involvement with students reflects positively, because the attitude of the
teachers would condition the classroom into an ideal learning environment. As the teachers let
their students get to know them on a more personal level, the students will be motivated to work
harder since the teachers will have become role models to them. As the students work harder,
their chances for academic success would increase, thus showing the pay-off of close
student/teacher bonds (K. Niebuhr and R. Niebuhr). Communication is an essential part of this
process; verbal expressions of support said by teachers and even nonverbal cues both contribute
to the way their relationships with the students are formed (Punyanunt-Carter and Wagner).
Ethnicity also plays a part in the way relationships are formed. Teachers behave in a caring
manner with their students, but the definition of care varies from one culture to another, and with
the diversifying of the student population, teachers would need to pay even more close attention

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to each students interpretation of care and the values that their culture believe to be important.
That way, they can ensure that their care positively affects the student to achieve better academic
results (Kang).
A study was held that explored the relationship between teacher absences and student
success. The results showed that the less time teachers spent in class, the lower the students
standardized achievements test scores were, and the more time the teachers spent in class, the
higher the scores were (Tingle et al.). This backs up the previous arguments which claim that
deeper relationships between teachers and students lead to greater student success; if teachers are
in class less often, they will have fewer opportunities to form those strong bonds and therefore
students will have a lower level of achievement because they are not receiving as much positive
emotional support.
In addition to having strong student/teacher bonds, it is necessary to take learning outside
of the confines of a classroom. In doing so, it will expose students to a wider array of knowledge
that is only obtainable in the real world by going out and interacting directly with it. There is a
kind of knowledge that goes beyond schools which can only be found out on the streets. Also, by
taking students out of classrooms, it promotes diversity in the learning curriculum and broadens
their worldview because they would be experiencing different cultures and opinions firsthand
rather than reading about them from a book*.
Jon Spayde claims in his article Learning in the Key of Life that the whole worlds a
classroom (Spayde 69), meaning that learning can be done anywhere outside of the classroom.
He also challenges what it means to be educated, claiming that in todays multiethnic,
corporation-heavy (Spayde 65) society, education equals something called training for

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competitiveness (Spayde 65). He believes that education is really just us trying to make sense
of society around us, and that in order to comprehend it, students need to go past schools and
bridge the gap between ideas and reality (Spayde 68), taking in the knowledge born out of
contact with the real world (Spayde 69) by walking around the streets, talking with friends, and
looking at museums.
Bonnie S. Sunstein responds to Spaydes article with one of her own titled Reading
across Disciplines. She agrees with his argument in that there is a lot to learn in the world
around us, but she also goes off to mention that writers of popular music such as Stevie Wonder
need to combine formal schooling with other knowledge to read and write their worlds (72).
Sunsteins path expands upon the basis of Spaydes ideas, and it is the exact thing needed in a
diverse education; students still need to stay in class in order to learn the basic core curriculum,
but at the same time they need to enrichen their lives with additional knowledge from the real
world in order to take in all of the cultural information not taught in classrooms. With a
combination of classroom and outside learning, students will be armed with a wide array of
intellectual tools to draw upon in order to make sense of the world around them and create their
place in it.
By implementing learning outside of classrooms, it will show that the leaders of
educational institutions are taking the diversification of their student bodies seriously. After all,
many of our school systems reflect [societys] diversity (Beachum, McCray, and Wright 112)
and any actions towards multicultural education taken by schools would serve as strong
statements about how American society is accepting and inclusive of all ethnicities. Any actions
otherwise would demonstrate the opposite. Outside learning is an effective way to show students
of varying ethnicities what different cultures are like and that theyre accepted. That hands-on

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exposure of the real world is likely to impact them more than if they were just studying the
theories in class.
As the student bodies of educational institutions across the country continue to diversify,
there is a growing need to reform the educational system and the way teachers run their
classrooms in order for students to achieve high goals and reach their fullest academic potential.
There isnt one uniform method of teaching that can be implemented to ensure success in diverse
student bodies; the only way to truly accommodate diversity is by using diversity in education.
Incorporating both an individualized, more personal method of teaching in classrooms and
exposure to a wide variety of cultural information would be the most effective way to educate
diverse student bodies. By forming closer relationships between students and teachers, positive
growth mindsets will develop in the students and they are more likely to reach higher standards
due to the additional support they receive and the better sense of self-confidence and motivation
that develops because of it. By learning from the outside world and the community in addition to
learning in a classroom, students will foster a greater awareness for the current events around
them and connect to their surroundings. Outside learning promotes diversity in student bodies
since they become exposed to new and different ideas rather than the set curriculum in schools,
which is extremely beneficial as student populations become more multiethnic. Americans
educational system needs to prepare its teachers to educate the future of the country by tailoring
to its diversity.

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Works Cited
Beachum, Floyd D., Carlos R. McCray, and James V. Wright. "An analysis of secondary school
principals' perceptions of multicultural education." Education 125.1 (2004): 111+.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Davis, Joshua. Spare Parts. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. Print.
Kang, SoYoung. "Identity-centered multicultural care theory: white, black, and Korean caring."
Educational Foundations 20.3-4 (2006): 35+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3
Nov. 2015.
Lee, Phyllis, and Karen L. Bierman. "Classroom And Teacher Support In Kindergarten:
Associations With The Behavioral And Academic Adjustment Of Low-Income
Students." Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 61.3 (2015): 383-411. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Niebuhr, Katherine E., and Robert E. Niebuhr. "An Empirical Study of Student Relationships and
Academic Achievements." Education 119.4 (1999): 679. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Punyanunt-Carter, Narissa Maria, and Thomas R. Wagner. "Communication based emotional
support differences between professors and teaching assistants (1)." Education 125.4
(2005): 569+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of
America's Educationally Unprepared. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Penguin, 1990. Print.

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Spayde, John. Learning in the Key of Life. The Presence of Others: Voices and Images That
Call for Response. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 65-70. Print.
Sunstein, Bonnie S. Reading Across Disciples. The Presence of Others: Voices and Images
That Call for Response. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 70-72. Print.
Tingle, Lynne R., et al. "An analysis of teacher absence and student achievement." Education
133.2 (2012): 367+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.